%0 Journal Article %A Ortiz De Zárate Leira, José María %A Sengers, Jan V. %T Boundary effects on the nonequilibrium structure factor of fluids below the Rayleigh-Benard instability %D 2002 %@ 1539-3755 %U https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/59337 %X We consider a horizontal fluid layer between two rigid boundaries, maintained in a stationary thermal nonequilibrium state below the convective Rayleigh-Benard instability. We derive an explicit expression for the nonequilibrium structure factor in a first-order Galerkin approximation valid for negative and positive Rayleigh numbers R up to the critical Rayleigh number R(c) associated with the appearance of convection. The results obtained for rigid boundaries by the Galerkin-approximation method are compared with exact results previously derived for the case of free boundaries. The nonequilibrium structure factor exhibits a maximum as a function of the wave number q of the fluctuations. This maximum is associated with a crossover from a q(-4) dependence for larger q to a q(2) dependence for small q. This maximum is present at both negative and positive R, becomes pronounced at positive R and diverges as R approaches the critical value R(c). %~